Miss Sweet Pea (Buff Orpington Hen) surrounded by a halo of light from the morning sun.
While cold weather issues often take precedence in the minds of backyard chicken keepers, heat-related illnesses are usually more deadly to backyard flocks. Unlike cold weather bringing snow and ice, hot weather is more dangerous than cold and wet weather combined. Dehydration and heat stroke can decimate a flock in minutes if proper precautions are not taken to avoid these issues.
In this post, I will discuss how soaring summer temperatures affect chicken physiology and how to avoid, treat, and prevent heat-related illnesses.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Me observing the North American Solar Eclipse.Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Diamond Ring Eclipse taken with my Celestron Refracting Telescope. April 8, 2024. Cincinnati, Ohio.
Chicken Physiology, Body Plan, and Dehydration:
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Aphrodite and Lady Me (White Crested Polish hen and Black Silkie hen, respectively) caught sampling freshly potted petunias.
Related to the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex, chickens are theropods and can trace their lineage back to the common ancestor of dinosaurs. (Brusatte, 2018).
All birds – chickens included – are dinosaurs. Specifically, birds are a type of theropod rooted in the dinosaur family tree that contains the same ferocious meat-eaters as T-Rex and Velociraptor (Brusatte, 2018).
Birds perch within an advanced group of dinosaurs called paravians – a subgroup of a theropod that traded in the brute body plan of their gargantuan ancestors for larger brains, sharpened acute senses, and smaller, lighter bodies that permitted progressive lifestyles above their land-dwelling relatives. Anatomically, chickens have many common characteristics that define the body plan of these magnificent creatures.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, Texas.
Chickens and all birds have a unique body plan visible in the skeleton. Comparing the skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex with modern chickens yields similar anatomical attributes. T-Rex has a skull attached to a spine, ribs, and two legs with splayed toes, providing swift bipedal locomotion. Focusing on the appendicular skeleton, we see that T-Rex and modern chickens have an S-shaped skeleton. The reason is that body plans do not have unlimited parts from which evolution can choose but rather build upon earlier ancestral shapes (Horner, 2009).
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Profile of skeletal body plan of Tyrannosaurus Rex which survives in birds and chickens today. National Natural History Museum. Washington, D.C.
While it’s easy to say that these features are of birds, they are not attributes of birds at all but of dinosaurs.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Saurischian dinosaurs – Alamosaurus and Tyrannosaurus Rex – locked in the battle of predator and prey. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, Texas.
Like the nightly T-Rex, chickens are related to saurischians – the line of the dinosaur family tree that contains both the giant sauropods and theropods – possessed skeletal pneumaticity – spaces for air in their bones.
Skeletal pneumaticity produces hollow bones that lighten the skeleton, allowing for a wide range of motion. Without pneumaticity, sauropods would be unable to lift their long necks, and giant theropods would lack the agility and ability to run because their skeletons would be far too heavy.
In birds, air sacks are an ultra-efficient lung oxygen system. This flow-through inhalation and exhalation provide the high-energy birds need during flight. Evolving one hundred million years before birds took flight, this is the true secret to their ability to take to the skies.
While pneumaticity is an incredible anatomical adaption inherited from their ferocious ancestors, it also makes birds vulnerable to dehydration. In warm weather, this ultra-efficient lung oxygen system requires access to water for optimal performance. In backyard chickens, readily available water is crucial to prevent dehydration. In extreme heat, chickens can dehydrate fast, causing compromised health and death.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Me looking through the fenestrae (Pneumaticity in T-Rex anatomy to make the skull lighter) of MOR 555 – Tyrannosaurus Rex. Natural History Museum. Cincinnati, Ohio.
Preventing dehydration in backyard chickens is crucial in hot weather. Water needs to be accessible at all times and if free-ranging in multiple locations. In my backyard, I have multiple waterers suspended from red Shepard hooks.
Image Credit:Noelle K. Moser. My flock free ranging in the backyard with multiplewatering locations visible for easy access.
When free ranging a backyard flock, it is necessary to keep water in easy reach from several locations. If the only water source is at a distance chickens can dehydrate before they can access water.
Image Credit:Noelle K. Moser. Mickey Smith (Black Silkie Rooster) drinking from one of the many watering stations placed throughout the backyard.
Electrolytes:
Rooster Booster Vitamins and Electrolytes available at farm and feed stores.Save-A-Chick electrolytes available at farm and feed stores.
Like Gatorade for humans, electrolytes are necessary for optimal flock health in hot weather. When temperatures soar, I add electrolytes to my flock’s water daily. Following package instructions for administration, electrolytes for poultry will aid in supporting the chicken’s body providing proper hydration.
Shade:
The Kuntry Klucker Pen shaded from the harsh sun by a tarp that protects the roof of the pen.A trio of Polish hens perching on a macrame hammock swing under the shade of the grape arbor.
Whether in the coop/pen or free-ranging, shade is key for optimal flock health in hot weather. In allowing the flock to free range in a backyard, plant pushes or trees that provide shade from the hot afternoon sun. If the free ranging area is too small, simple canopy tents are a great alternative.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser.The Kuntry Klucker crew seeking shade under a large tree in the corner of the free ranging yard.
In my backyard, I have multiple areas providing shade for the flock. I also post watering stations near these locations to help the flock stay hydrated while they rest in the shade.
Provide Chicken A/C:
Another trick of the trade is to provide your flock chicken A/C. During the hottest part of the day, use a hose to saturate a favorite shaded spot for the flock. The water will cool the ground and the chickens will rest on the cool ground acting as A/C that will help the flock stay cool. If your property allows, placing a misting host on the ground will also provide this cooling effect. The chickens will come and go out of the mist as needed depending on individual comfort levels.
Image Credit:Noelle K. Moser.The Coop De Ville crew taking advantage the freshly moistened ground in a shaded spot on a hot summer day.
Treating Heat Illness in Backyard Flocks:
The signs of heat illness in chickens are much the same in humans. Lifelessness, exhaustion, lack of appetite, pale comb, dry mouth, passing out, and death.
If you notice any of the above symptoms in a flock member, immediate action is required. The first measure is to take the heat-affected individual to water. Many times, the heat-stressed bird needs quick access to water. If the individual is strong enough to drink, this will quickly rectify the situation. Keep the ill individual near the watering source in a pen or shaded location to recover.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Me using a syringe to orally administer wormer to a black Cochin bantam hen.
If the heat illness is more severe, direct administration may be necessary. Using a syringe with the needle removed, provide water mixed with electrolytes directly to the affected flock member. When given orally, the patient will drink the water, providing relief.
Note of caution: do NOT force the water down their throat; chickens have a passage in the back of their mouth that leads directly to the lungs. Instead, slowly administer the water and allow the bird to drink the water.
I have a video on my YouTube Channel demonstrating the correct oral administration using Wormer. While this video focuses on worming a backyard flock, the oral methodology is the same. The skills here can be extrapolated and transferred to heat-related illnesses in backyard chickens.
If possible, isolate the heat-stressed member to a cool shaded place such as a laundry room, mud room, or shaded location in the pen, and over several hours, administer water in small doses to help the member recover from the heat-related illness.
Most chickens treated for heat stress in this manner make a full recovery and no ill health is observed.
I hope this post has helped treat a heat-stressed backyard flock. Like cold weather challenges, hot weather has associated risks that need to be addressed to have a happy and healthy backyard flock. If you have any questions feel free to reach out, by leaving a comment or dropping me an email at kuntryklucker@gmail.com
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Daspletosaurus Torous (Jurassic ancestor of Tyrannosaurus Rex), cast of Tyrannosaurus Rex (MOR 555 skull) and I. Cincinnati Natural History Museum. Cincinnati, Ohio.
I am a multi-disciplinary writer, blogger, and online content creator. If you like this post, please visit my online writing portfolio or other sites.
As always, thanks for reading. Till next time, keep on crowing!
~ The Kuntry Klucker Crew ~
Resources:
Brusatte, Steve. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A History of Their Lost World. William Marrow of Harper Collins Publishers. New York, NY. 2018. Pts. 270.
Horner, Jack. How to Build a Dinosaur. Plume, Published by Penguin Group. London, England. 2009. Pts. 8,9.
Me observing the eclipse at the Cincinnati Natural History Museum.
On April 8, 2024, the United States was in the path of totality of a Solar Eclipse. I recorded the flock’s reaction with a time-lapse camera and the eclipse with a Celestron telescope and Canon camera. Due to my location, I am just outside the path of totality; for better observation conditions, I traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio, and recorded the eclipse at the Cincinnati Natural History Museum. While there, I took in the museum’s dinosaur wing and captured some images of the Mesozoic ancestors of my backyard theropods.
Daspletosaurus and Tyrannosaurs Rex display at Cincinnati Museum Center. Daspletosaurus-Jurassic ancestor of Cretaceous apex predator T-rex-the blood of these dinosaurs’ pumps through the veins of my backyardflock.
While this blog is about raising and caring for backyard chickens, given the notoriety of the celestial event, observing the flock’s reaction to the solar eclipse is fascinating.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser.Cincinnati Natural History MuseumCenter prior to the onset of the solar eclipse.
Before leaving, I set up a time-lapse camera in the backyard to capture the flock’s behavior as the sun, blocked by the moon, darkened the land below. Like all birds, the behavior of the Klucker Crew is predictable but fascinating to witness, nonetheless.
As I was in two places at once, I will pair my observation and progression of the eclipse with the reactions of the flock for this post. As chickens are diurnal creatures and associate the waning of sunlight with nature’s ques to begin roosting, the flock demonstrated these behaviors only to be caught off guard during midday.
Image at inception of the eclipse taken with Celestron refracting telescope with solar filter. Image of eclipse captured with Canon T7i 19-250mm Lense with solar filter.Smaug (Silver Lace Wyandotte Rooster) and Brian (Buff Lace Polish hen) eating at the feeder at the onset of the eclipse.
As the first signs of the moon moving in front of the sun began, activity in the backyard was routine. Occupying their time with hunting and pecking, the flock is blissfully unaware that something spectacular is about to unfold above their heads.
Image taken with Celestron Refracting Telescope with solar filter.Image of eclipse captured with Canon T7i 19-250mm Lense with solar filter.
As the moon traversed more of the sun’s disk, the land below became transformed by the hint of waning sunlight. At this point in the eclipse process, the anticipative effects became apparent.
Back on the farm, as the sky slowly darkened, the flock noticed the early evening waning sunlight. Continuing to graze without sense of urgency, the flock slowly approached the pen.
Image taken with Celestron Refracting Telescope with solar filter.Image of eclipse captured with Canon T7i 19-250mm Lense with solar filter.Image of eclipse captured with Canon T7i 19-250mm Lense with solar filter.
As the eclipse approached totality, the landscape was transformed into a mural of twilight. On the ground crescent shaped shadows filtered through the leaves of a tree near my observation location at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
Crescent shaped shadows from the eclipse sun filtering through the leaves of a tree surrounding a Moon pie box, my snack of choice during eclipse observing.
As the sky above the Kuntry Klucker darkened, the solar lights on my grape arbor turned on, and the flock members stranded in the yard found themselves in the panorama of momentary darkness and confused before the sunlight returned as fast as it had receded.
Below are stills from a time-lapse camera in the pen recording the flock’s reaction to the eclipse. The camera shows that it got dark for a few moments, but not long enough for the flock to make their way up the ladder to the coop. Instead, they froze in place as sudden momentary darkness fell, only to be subsumed into increasing daylight.
The flock’s response was dumbfounded confusion as evening came on suddenly, not giving them much time to react. I hoped they would go to roost to have the sunlight return, rendering their efforts mute. Although I did not get the pics I anticipated, I captured some stunning images of the celestial event. Below is a chronological order of the eclipse as the moon traversed the sun.
At the Cincinnati Museum Center, the darkened sun yielded incredible photos of the landscape during the fleeting period of totality, allowing me several seconds of naked-eye observing.
Cincinnati Museum Center at the inception of the eclipse.Cincinnati Museum Center illuminated by indoor lighting at the peak of totality.Diamond ring eclipse taken with Celestron Refracting Telescope.
This solar eclipse was an incredible celestial event that I am glad I had a chance to observe. While the flock’s reaction was subdued – due to the diminished totality and location at home – the images I captured in Cincinnati are incredible.
Below is a slideshow of the dinosaurs on display. Noteworthy, and one of the reasons I chose this location is the only mounted Torvosaurus in the world is at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
I am a published author, multi-disciplinary writer, and web content creator. If you like this post, please visit my online writing portfolio and my other blogs.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas,TX
I recently wrote an article examining medullary bone found in a tyrannosaurus rex fossil and how chickens were used to help determine the gender of the fossil. While I focus on backyard chicken-related topics on this blog, I thought my fellow backyard chicken enthusiasts would find this subject matter meaningful and help further understand hens and their biological processes during laying. While this article is scientific, I hope it will bring an appreciation to the marvelous workings and the incredible design of mother nature and our backyard hens.
Image Credit:Noelle K. Moser. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, TX.
Since the discovery of the holotype Tyrannosaurus Rex in 1902 by Barnum Brown in the Hell Creek Formation of Montana, no other dinosaur has captured the human imagination. Upon its discovery, Barnum Brown wrote this to Henry Fairfield Osborn, friend, and curator of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. “It is as if a child’s conception of a monster had become real and was laid down in stone” (Randall, 2022).
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser.“Walter” Tyrannosaurus Rex. The National Museum of Natural History. Washington, D.C.
Though most of the skull and tail were missing, everything about this monster would overwhelm the human imagination. The specimen that Brown found stood 13 feet tall at the hips, its jaws measured over 4 ft in length, and would have weighed 6-8 tons. This was the only known specimen to science and was given the appropriate name Tyrannosaurus Rex by Henry Osborne in the fall of 1902. Tyrannosaurus which means “tyrant lizard” in Greek and “rex” which means “king” in Latin; Tyrannosaurus Rex, the king of the lizards, no other name would capture in two words the sheer power contained within this beast.
We crave to learn all we can about the largest therapod dinosaurs that ever existed. Over the past one hundred years, we have gleaned a wealth of information from the fifty Tyrannosaurus Rex specimens currently housed in museums around the world.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser.Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Alamosaurus (a titanosaurian sauropod). Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, TX.
Tyrannosaurus rex gender is a tribute to the founder of the specimen. Sue (FMNH PR2081), discovered in 1990 by Sue Hendrickson, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus-rex, is aptly considered female. Stan (BHI 3033), discovered in 1987 by Stan Sacrison, containing the most complete skull, is considered male.
Stan and I. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, TX.
While these attempts to assign a pronoun to tyrannosaurus specimens offer a sense of personhood, a link to the actual gender of tyrannosaurus rex specimens rests in the most unlikely of places – chickens.
Smaug: (Silver Lace Wyandotte Rooster). Chickens have much in common with their ancestor, Tyrannosaurus Rex. By understanding chickens, we can much better understand T-rex.
Birds are dinosaurs. Specifically, birds are a type of therapod rooted in the dinosaur family tree that contains the same ferocious meat-eaters as T-rex and Velociraptor (Brusattee, 2018). Birds lie within an advanced group of therapods called parades – a subgroup of therapods that traded in the brute body plan of their gargantuan ancestors for larger brains, sharpened acute senses, and smaller, lighter bodies that permitted progressive lifestyles above their land-dwelling relatives. Anatomically, chickens and tyrant theropods have many common characteristics that define the body plan of these magnificent creatures.
Air Sacs:
Birds achieve flight by two fundamental anatomical adaptions – feathers and hollow bones. While feathers provide the ability to soar above our heads, the real secret lies in their bones. Saurischians – the line of the dinosaur family tree containing both the giant sauropods and therapods – possessed skeletal pneumaticity – spaces for air in their bones. Skeletal pneumaticity produces hollow bones that lighten the skeleton, allowing for a wide range of motion. For example, without pneumaticity, sauropods would not be able to lift their long necks, and giant therapods would lack agility and ability to run because their skeletons would be far too heavy. In birds, air sacs are an ultra-efficient lung oxygen system. This flow-through inhalation and exhalation provides the high-energy birds need during flight. Evolving one-hundred million years before birds took flight, this is the true secret to their ability to take to the skies.
The signature feature of birds – feathers – evolved in their ground-dwelling theropod ancestors first noticed in Sinosauropteryx, the first dinosaur taxon outside parades to be found with evidence of proto-feathers.
Image Credit: Sinosauropterys fossil with evidence of proto-feathers.
The earliest feathers looked much different than the quill feathers of today. Initially, feathers evolved as multipurpose tools for display, insulation, protection for brooding, and sexual dimorphism. These early feathers were more like a fluff – appearing more like fur than feathers – consisting of thousands of hair-like filaments. Silkie chickens possess feathers that lack barbs that form the classic shape we associate with feathers. The first proto-feathers in dinosaurs were much like the texture of feathers on the Silkie. The breed name “Silkie” is derived from this unique feather texture.
Black Silkie hen. Silkie chickens possess hairlike filament feather texturefrom which their name is derived.
Wings:
While large theropods like Tyrannosaurus Rex noticed diminishing forearms throughout the Mesozoic, other dinosaurs like Zhenyuanlong and Microraptor traded in forearms for wings.
Image Credit:Life restoration of Zhenyuanlong, a small theropod that possessed feathered wings but could not fly.Image Credit:Microraptor, feathered dinosaurs that possessed wings on both forelimbs and hindlimbs and could glide from treetop to treetop.
Despite possessing wings, these feather-winged dinosaurs could not fly. Their bodies were far too heavy to achieve flight observed in birds today. Aboral dinosaurs glided from tree to tree or used their wings to fly flop on the ground. These first fully feathered dinosaurs also used their plumage as display features to attract mates or frighten enemies, as stabilizers for climbing trees, and protection and warmth for brooding offspring.
As the body plan for feathered dinosaurs continued to fine-tune the use of feathers, flight happened by accident. More advanced paravians had achieved the magical combination to achieve flight – large wings and smaller bodies (Brusatte, 2018). As the body plan of birds continued to refine, they lost their long tails and teeth, reduced to one ovary, and hollowed out their bones more to lighten their weight. By the end of the Cretaceous, birds flew over the heads of Tyrannosaurus Rex and other land-dwelling dinosaurs. Sixty-six million years ago, the birds and T-rex witnessed the Chicxulub impact that brought the Mesozoic to a close. While therapods with large and expensive body plans died out, birds sailed through to the Cenozoic. For this reason, we say that all non-avian dinosaurs are extinct, but dinosaurs are still very much with us – we call them birds.
Dignitary Locomotion in feet:
Foot of Stan (Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen 3033). Stan walked with digitigrade locomotion.Smaug; Silver Lace Wyandotte Rooster. Like Stan, Smaug walks with digitigrade locomotion.
Theropod means “beast foot”, and for good reason. Adaptions in the metatarsals (foot bones) of theropods allowed them to walk with a digitigrade stance. Unlike humans that walk plantigrade (flat-footed), tyrannosaurus rex walked on their toes. Digitigrade motion has many benefits, as it allows the animal to run fast, increased agility and splayed toes offer better balance on muddy or slippery surfaces. Birds are coelurosaurs and inherited these anatomical characteristics from their theropodian ancestors. Chickens like tyrannosaurus rex walk with digitigrade locomotion, making them swift runners on land and providing excellent balance and stabilizing ability when resting on roosts.
Wish Bone:
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Walter (tyrannosaurus rex) possessed a furcula or “wish bone”. The Furcula can be seen in the image that attached to the forelimbs.National Museum of Natural History. Washington, D.C.
The Thanksgiving tradition of “the lucky break” of the turkey wishbone is possible thanks to theropods who passed this anatomical trait to birds. In Tyrannosaurus rex, the furcula provided strength and power to the diminished but muscular forearms. In birds, the furcula fused from the two clavicle bones and function to strengthen the skeleton in the rigors of flight.
Image Credit: Coracoid and supracoracoideus muscles in a bird’s wing.The furcula provides support to these muscle systems in flight.
In conjunction with the coracoid and the scapula, it forms a unique structure called the triosseal canal, which houses a strong tendon that connects the supracoracoideus muscles to the humerus. This system is responsible for lifting the wings during the recovery stroke in flight.
S-shaped Skeleton:
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser.Coelophysis, basal coelurosaur with an S-shaped skeleton possessed by both T-rex and modern birds. Perot Natural History Museaum. Dallas TX.
Chickens and all birds have a unique body plan visible in the skeleton. Comparing the skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex with modern birds will yield similar anatomical attributes. T-rex has a skull attached to a spine, ribs, and two legs with splayed toes providing swift bipedal locomotion. Focusing on the appendicular skeleton, we see that T-rex and modern birds have an S-shaped skeleton. The reason is that body plans do not have unlimited parts from which evolution can choose but rather build upon earlier ancestral shapes (Horner, 2009).
While birds lack teeth and long tails, the genes to manipulate these features still exist in the gene sequence of birds. In 2006, researchers at the University of Wisconsin published a report on manipulating the genes responsible for teeth in chicken egg embryos, resulting in buds that would later develop into crocodile-like teeth. The embryos were not allowed to hatch, but this research shows that the genes related to “dinosaur-like” features still exist within the genes of chickens; mother nature has just switched them off.
While it’s easy to say these features are of birds, they are not attributes of birds at all but are of dinosaurs.
Image Credit:Noelle K. Moser. Close up of teeth on tyrannosaurus Rex. Inside the genome of birds lie the genes for teeth and long tails. Mother Nature just has them switched off. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, TX.
By studying the anatomy of chickens and comparing these findings with the tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, we see many of the same features. As we look closer, it becomes increasingly clear that T-rex is an overgrown chicken. Since the backyard chicken and the mighty T-rex have these characteristics in common, it stands to reason that these similarities are transferable to the study of tyrannosaur fossils, sexual dimorphism, and gender.
Medullary Bone in Egg Laying Hens:
Polish trio roosting on macramé swing suspended under my grape arbor.
In 2006, while studying bones of a newly discovered tyrannosaurus Rex, B-rex (Bob Rex, a tribute to the finder of this tyrannosaurus skeleton, Bob Harmon), a spongy-like mesh of tiny transparent flexible tubing was visible under a microscope. In attempts to determine the nature of this bone material, researchers turned to the closest living relative of the mighty T-rex – birds, specifically hens.
Buff Orpington chick resting amongst farm fresh eggs from my backyard flock.
This bone medullary bone is a reproductive tissue found only in living female actively reproducing hens. As a hen advances to maturity, marked by egg laying, her body will produce medullary bone and continue to produce this bone throughout her laying duration. In some birds, this is seasonal in hens such as chickens; medullary bone is produced from her first egg at about 20 weeks of age throughout her subsequent laying lifetime. This reproductive bone tissue serves as mobilized calcium storage for the production of eggshells (Larson and Carpenter, 2008).
Buff Orpington eggs from my backyard chicken flock.
The hens in my backyard flock possess the same medullary bone discovered in B-rex. When my hens lay eggs, the shells that protect the egg are medullary bones stored in their bones. As she continues the lay year after year, this reproductive tissue replenishes. Since hens lay several eggs a week vs only seasonal, chicken feed is fortified with additional calcium to extend the egg potential of laying hens. While man’s attempts to lend support by increased calcium allow hens to produce stronger eggshells, the fundamentals are the same. My hens produce medullary bone because it is an attribute that they inherited from their ancestor, tyrannosaurus rex.
Buff Orpington Hens, White Crested Polish hen, and Mottled Cochin Rooster. My hens-related to tyrannosaurus rex-possess the same reproductive medullary bone as that of B-rex.
Unlike other bone types, medullary bone has no other function. It exists solely as a calcium storage for the production of eggshells. The formation of this reproductive tissue osteoclasts in the femur and tibiotarsus bones begins to deposit about 1 or 2 weeks before lay.
It’s a Girl!!!
Image Credit:Femur of MOR 1125 where osteoclasts of medullary bone were found.
The discovery of medullary bone found in the femur of MOR 1125, triggered by the increase of estrogen in her body, signified that this tyrannosaurus rex was not only a female but pregnant.
Living near the end of the 140-million-year reign of the dinosaurs, B-rex moved through the lush forests of a delta that fed several winding rivers in the Hell Creek Formation. She hatched 16 years prior, wandering about this tropical landscape, growing to maturity and preparing to mate.
Image Credit: Noelle K. Moser. Mesozoic plants at the National Botanical Gardens in Washington. D.C. Bob-rex would have seen many of these same plants as she wondered the tropical regions of the Hell Creek Formation sixty-eight million years ago.
Whether or not this was her first mating season, we do not know. Perhaps she died without ever producing offspring, or she was preparing to be a mother for the first time. We know that sixty-eight million years ago, she died young of unknown causes, and her burial was quick because her skeleton was well preserved.
The discovery of B-rex is the holy grail for paleontology and dinosaur studies. We can now assign gender and learn more about the intimate lives of tyrannosaurus rex specimens and other medullary bone-bearing dinosaurs through the lessons of B-rex, the pregnant T-rex.
I hope this post was resourceful and brought more understanding to egg laying in backyard hens and where the eggshell is derived. By understanding the ancestors of our backyard flocks, we can better understand their biological processes.
If you have any question, feel free to post in the comment or you can e-mail me: kuntryklucker@gmail.com
Thanks for reading. Till next time, keep on crowing.
Tyrannosaurus Rex and I. Perot Natural History Museum. Dallas, TX.
~ Noelle K. Moser ~
Resources:
Brusatte, Steve. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A History of Their Lost World. William Marrow of Harper Collins Publishers. New York, NY. 2018. Pgs. 282, 298, 299.
Harris P Matthrew, Hasso M Sean, Ferguson W.J. Mark, and Fallon F John. The Development of Archosaurian First-Generation Teeth in a Chicken Mutant. Current Biology Vol. 16, 371-377, February 21, 2006. URL
Horner, Jack. How to Build a Dinosaur. Plume, Published by Penguin Group. London, England. 2009. Pgs. 8,9,57, 58, 60.
Larson, Peter and Carpenter, Kenneth. Tyrannosaurus Rex: The Tyrant King. Indiana University Press. Bloomington, Indiana. 2008. Pgs. 40, 93, 95, 98.
Randall K., David. The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How it Shook Our World. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. New York, N.Y. 2022. Pgs. 153.
The Kuntry Klucker 
